Spinach and Sausage Pasta

March 16, 2011

If there’s one thing you should know about me when it comes to food, it’s that I love pasta. Although I’ve never tested it, I’m positive I could eat pasta every day of the week and never grow tired of it. The best thing about pasta is that, with very few ingredients, you can make a quick weeknight meal that is full of flavor. Instead of sticking with boring old spaghetti (don’t get me wrong, I love spaghetti), add some flavors into the pot, along with some veggies and you can easily liven up a pasta dish.

Whenever I don’t have tomatoes or pasta sauce on hand, I always turn to my trusty dish of noodles with butter and spices. Paired with a healthy salad, this dinner is such a nice go-to meal when I’m in a bind, don’t have very many ingredients on hand or don’t feel like running up to the grocery store. I recently made this dish the other night and, like always, it was a huge hit in our home.

With this version, I decided to spice this dish up a bit by adding spinach and mild sausage since I had both of these ingredients in my freezer. With just a few extra steps, I had a dish that was not only beautiful, but also filling and flavorful. I know that I’ll be turning to this dish many times down the road. To me, you can never go wrong with pasta, veggies, meat and a delicious sauce to tie everything together.

Spinach and Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:

1 package thick spaghetti noodles

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

5 mild Italian sausages, casings removed and cut into 1 inch pieces

3-4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed

1/2 teaspoon Oregano

1/2 teaspoon Parsley

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt (depending on taste)

Dash of salt (depending on taste)

Dash of Cayenne Pepper (depending on taste)

Directions:

Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Put a dash of salt into the boiling water and then add the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the directions.

Pour olive oil into a frying pan, heat the oil and then add the sausage pieces. Cook the sausage thoroughly and then remove and set the sausage on paper towel and allow to drain.

Drain the pasta and then return to the pot. Add the spinach, sausage and remaining ingredients into the pot and stir the noodles to coat.

This is very similar to one of my go-to pasta dishes: pasta with Italian sausage and broccoli rabe. I love how the spiciness of the sausage plays with the slight bitterness of the broccoli rabe. And you can't beat that color combination!